


Ten Percent Luck

by Greyneurosis (Spylace)



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chuck Lives, Disapproving Family, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Panickiness, Protectiveness, Sadly no knives were sharpened in the making of this fic, Scare Tactics, Vaguely Helpful Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 14:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1391632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spylace/pseuds/Greyneurosis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raleigh meets the parent. </p><p>Herc is not impressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Percent Luck

**Author's Note:**

> Directly follows [Nine-tenths of Happiness ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1318117).

Ten days before Herc’s visit, Raleigh started panicking.

It began low in his gut (probably the three-day old fried noodles he had for breakfast) until he couldn’t deny it anymore. He was a wreck by lunch time to wit, Mako plucked the phone out of his pocket with ease and speed-dialed Chuck.

“It’s not that big a deal.” Chuck insisted, lying on top of his legs to prevent escape.

Raleigh replied in the only dignified way possible—by smothering himself with a pillow.

“He’s a hostage negotiator. He’ll treat this like a siege. Let my son go or I’ll...”

Chuck rolled his eyes so hard he was surprised they hadn’t fallen out of their sockets.

“So what” the younger man snarked “Were you plannin’ on being celibate till my old man leaves?”

“Can we?” Raleigh asked hopefully.

“Hey no” and Chuck ducked his head, his breath tickling his abs as he kissed his way down to his thighs and latched on like a lamprey in the most unimaginative seduction ever. But whatever, he was already a goner. He was sliding out of his boxers like he couldn’t get them off fast enough and soon Chuck was sucking all coherent thought out through his dick.

Life was good.

 

Day seven had Yancy drive up to their apartment and yell “Get in loser!” as he stumbled around half-naked. His brother flashed a bright smile at Chuck and waved. Raleigh punched him in the car.

“Ow what?”

“Keep your eyes to yourself.” He snapped. “I saw him first.”

“Aww look at you.” Yancy teased as he made a turn off the turnpike. “Very neanderthal. Think I’ll tell mom about this.”

“Don’t you dare!” Raleigh yelped. The only reason he hadn’t lost Chuck yet was because most of his family didn’t know. His brother threw him an indulgent look.

“You’re so easy.”

Most people gave him advice like, be yourself, be charming, be polite. Yancy opened his big, fat mouth and said “don’t tell him you broke up with his son because you were chicken shit.”

“Don’t you have better advice?”

Raleigh asked irritably.

“Nope” Yancy shrugged, popping the word at the end. “This has never come up before.” He added with a pause. “I haven’t had to remind you about condoms since you were seventeen.”

This was a waste of time. He cast his line as far as he could and sat down, feeling miserable.

Desperate, he asked “What do you know about interrogation tactics?”

 

He had three separate panic attacks by the time the last day arrived. Sasha, his supervisor, took one look at him and told him not to come back until he grew a backbone. Mako gave him a number for her lawyer. Tendo promised to call every day to check that he was alive.

This, Raleigh realized, was the disadvantages of being in a relationship. Back when he was discarding partners as easily as condoms, he never got invites to meet their parents. He was never asked to say hello to a father who was actively serving in the Marine Corps, someone who could break him to itty bitty little pieces without really thinking about it. A father who obviously loved his son enough to drop by for a visit even though there were pirates at sea, terrorizing freight ships off the coast of Somalia.

“Really, what are the chances that something big happens and he has to cancel?” Raleigh blabbered as his legs were hitched up.

Chuck groaned.

“Seriously?”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life.” Raleigh told him seriously.

“Look mate” Chuck said and it wasn’t fair that he got to start his argument by grabbing his dick. “I know you. This will be the last time you’re going to get it up before my dad leaves and I want to enjoy it. I’m going to enjoy it. Capiche?”

“Okay” Raleigh nodded. “But what if—“

“Okay” The younger man’s expression was grim. He sucked on three of his fingers and scraped his thumb under his balls.

Raleigh’s toes curled against the sheets.

“What if I do this?”

 

Chuck was a decently big guy. He was surprised to see that his father wasn’t any taller, like maybe seven-feet tall, armed to the teeth and breathing fire.

“Do we need to discuss your nighttime viewing choices?”

“No we do not.”

As soon as the man got out of the car, Chuck was yelling “MAAAX!!” and there was a conveniently Chuck shaped air pocket where the younger man had been. Raleigh watched dumbfounded as a hallmark moment played out right in front of him. A squat, bulldog leapt from the driver’s seat and into Chuck’s waiting arms. It was cute, it was sweet. It was also a clever ploy to keep Chuck distracted as his father focused his laser blue eyes at him.

“So” Herc said pleasantly in a crisp American accent. “You’re the one who’s been sleeping with my son.”

Chuck grumbled rebelliously beside him before cooing at the goddamned dog. But he couldn’t exactly step on the younger man’s foot with his father watching.

He swallowed. “Yessir”

“And Chuck tells me you work at a construction company? As an accountant?”

Herc seemed disappointed that Raleigh’s job didn’t require more terrorists and a potential to drop dead at any moment. Briefly, he wondered how the other boyfriends had fared and if this was the real reason Chuck had latched on so stubbornly because from where he was sitting, Raleigh was less than dirt beneath Herc’s boot.

He cringed and reflexively sought Chuck’s hand. Chuck squeezed back gently even as he played with the dog’s ears. Herc’s eyes narrowed.

“How old are you again?”

Raleigh had no doubt in his mind Herc already had salient details embedded in his brain. But he replied automatically “Twenty-eight next month sir.”

Those lessons with Yancy were paying off spectacularly.

“Daaaad” Chuck warned.

Herc finally turned to his son. “I’m just saying.”

“It’s just six years.”

“And those six years can mean a lot.” Herc said with the patience of a man who’d had this argument many times before. “You’re in college.”

“I’m graduating in June.”

“And going to grad school. You think that’s fair to Raleigh here?”

Well at least Herc didn’t have Chuck’s excuse of mangling his first name.

Chuck pressed him a quick, wide-eyed look of undeserved panic before crushing his metacarpals under his fist.

“Sir” Raleigh said, mustering up indignation at the deserved accusation. “I love your son very much and I will support him in whatever decision he makes.”

Herc replied serenely “we’ll see.”

 

Raleigh stared dubiously from the doorway as Herc unpacked, the dog wagging its butt every time the man so much as looked like he was pulling something out of travel bag.

“You’re not gonna...”

“Huh?” Raleigh said intelligently, mesmerized as Herc produced two guns from his thigh holsters.

Chuck hesitated. “You’re not gonna take off are you?” He added hastily, “I mean I don’t blame you, my old man can be a complete berk but he wasn’t this bad before...”

“You mean” He asked wryly, “there was a time he wasn’t threatening to shoot out kneecaps?”

Chuck deflated, making a beeline for the kitchen.

“Hey, hey” Raleigh grabbed him from behind. “I’m staying alright? I was stupid enough to let you go once and I was miserable. I’m not going anywhere.”

A smile tugged on the edge of Chuck’s lips.

As they were about to kiss Herc barked “Eyes up front Becket!”

Chuck burst out into laughter and went to make tea.

Raleigh groaned.

 

“I swear to god I will call mum.” Chuck said after Raleigh had been stupid enough to take Herc up on the offer to buy groceries. The older man had staged shopping like a military operation keeping errant soccer moms and minimum-wage workers entertained because the cereal box wasn’t square enough. In the end, they hadn’t even needed cereal because in Herc’s words “all that processed crap is bad for you” before he got a calculating gleam in his eyes like he was wondering just how bad when Chuck called to say there was a spider in the bathroom.

He took one look at Raleigh before Herc was marching guiltily to find the hypothetical spider.

“Shit” Chuck swore, sitting him down on the couch.

Raleigh curled up instinctively when his body hit the soft surface. Hands patted him down for injuries before curling against his skull. “Oi, still alive mate?”

When all Raleigh could do was shiver unpleasantly, Chuck soothed. “’s alright, he took you to a civilian area. That means he likes you.”

“You and I have a vastly different definition of like.” Raleigh groaned into Chuck’s thigh.

“Hey there.”

He squinted at him.

“I hate you and your stupid face forever.”

“That’s just hurtful.” Chuck drawled. “What if there had been a spider?”

“Is there a spider?”

Chuck couldn’t quite repress a shiver and Raleigh couldn’t help the burst of affection in his chest.

“Hope not.”

There was a sudden crash from the bathroom.

Flopping dramatically, Raleigh declared “I need my phone.”

 

“Oh my god Yancy, save me already.”

“Huh” His brother said from the other end of the line, unhelpful as always. “Wow, you lasted longer than I thought you would bro. How’d it go?”

“He’s going to kill me!” Raleigh hissed. He’d escaped while Herc was serving lasagna. The lasagna smelled excellent, he just wasn’t sure if there was some kind of poison in it both Herc and Chuck were immune to.

“I told you.” Yancy sighed. “Don’t tell him about the...”

“I need an extraction now!”

“I told you about a million times already I don’t...”

“Yaaaance.”

“Oh alright.” Yancy grumped. “I’ll see what I can do.”

 

“Yancy Becket sir” Yancy introduced himself with a six-pack in one hand. “Sorry, Raleigh borrowed my jacket and never gave it back so I’m here to pick it up.”

Herc looked on approvingly as the beer went in the fridge where it belonged.

Raleigh grabbed Yancy by the elbow and hissed “I told you to rescue me, not sabotage my relationship.”

“Is it my fault I’m irresistible?” Yancy wondered out loud.

“I hate you so much right now.” Raleigh groaned.

“You asked for help, I’m helping aren’t I?”

“Can you help without giving Herc a reason to kill me more?”

Yancy patted him on the back.

“You have that effect on people.”

 

“Becket, I thought Sasha gave you the week off— _Jesus_ ”

“Herc already thinks I’m a failure.” Raleigh dumped the files mechanically in the paper shredder. “I don’t need him thinking I’m an unemployed failure.”

“Cheer up” Cheung said, uncharacteristically sympathetic. Hu shoved coffee and energy bar into his hands. “It’s only a few more days.”

 

Raleigh woke when he found Chuck gone. The guestroom had really only been set for one person so Chuck got the bed and Raleigh the carpet. He was about to call out when he heard,

“Remember what you told me about mum?”

Herc grunted accompanied by a slosh of liquid. “Well he’s it. Raleigh’s it for me dad. You can scare him all you want, I’ll still want him.”

“Why couldn’t you have gone for the other Becket?” Herc whined, sounding awfully petulant for a full-grown man.

“He’s a Fed,” Chuck pointed out matter-of-fact. “You’d have complained even more.”

 

“Could you have gone for Yancy?” Raleigh asked out of the blue as Chuck assembled a care package for Herc.

“’scuse me?”

Raleigh licked his lips because this was a serious question.

“Yancy, could you have gone for him instead?”

“Nah” Chuck replied after a tense moment. He cracked a grin. “You have a nicer ass.”

Raleigh leaned forward and kissed him.

 

Herc’s eyes were still icy when they regarded Raleigh but he liked to think that they had thawed a little, like summertime in Antarctica. He hugged Chuck for the longest time, the dog sitting between their feet like it knew they were going away.

“Call your mom, she worries about you.”

“Take care of yourself old man.”

“Becket” Herc nodded as he got in the car. He held the door open when Raleigh grabbed it to close it for him, his smile fixed to his face. “Keep frosty.”

“Sir”

They watched until Herc’s little rental disappeared over the horizon.

Raleigh gave a small sigh of relief. Chuck looked like he was doing his best not to cry.

“Come on” He said soothingly, leading the other man inside. “There’s always next year.”

Chuck gave him a wobbly smile.

“You’d do that for me?”

He thought hard. All relationships were built on sacrifices right?

“Yeah, but I’m stupid like that. Your idiot remember.”

“Yeah” Chuck said wonderingly, like he was really contemplating the veracity of Raleigh’s claim. The look swiftly changed to something more familiar and recognizable. Raleigh slung an arm around Chuck waist and said “C’mon, let’s get inside—mmmph!”

 

He could live with Herc’s visits, he really could.

 


End file.
